A Berkshire weekly used its top contacts in the horse racing world to scoop the nationals over the winner of a £1m-plus bet.

Stable lad Conor Murphy won the seven-figure sum by backing five of trainer Nicky Henderson’s horses at last week’s Cheltenham Festival.

He turned down all interviews with the nationals before agreeing to speak to his local paper, the Newbury Weekly News.

Conor, 31, works at Henderson’s Lambourn stables in the heart of the NWN’s patch. The exclusive interview was published the NWN’s website, Newbury Today, on Friday.

Reporter Mark Taylor said:  “This story went all over the world, it was great to see the Newbury Weekly News out there.

“They look after the Newbury Weekly News in Lambourn, we are the local newspaper and we have a really strong relationship with our readers all over the district.

“Looking after your contacts and treating the readers with respect comes through in things like this when people like Conor choose to speak to their local newspaper when the nationals are beating at their door.

“I did play the local paper angle and he was happy to talk to me after some gentle persuasion, possibly from our friend Nicky Henderson.”